Colgate Reports Net Falls 23%
Amid Cost Cuts, Promotions

NEW YORK -- Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 23%, as the company spent aggressively to restructure its operations and to promote its products.

Sales rose 9% as steps that the company took in the second half of the year began to take hold. In September, Colgate issued its first profit warning in a nearly a decade, after its earnings eroded amid competition and surging commodity costs. Since then, the maker of...